Biology

Pawniard is a small, bipedal Pokémon. It has a rounded red and black head with a silvery blade extending from the front. Its face is grey with yellow eyes. Four steel spikes protrude from its black torso, two on each side connected by steel ribs. Its red arms that end with knife-like blades instead of hands. When hunting, Pawniard immobilizes prey by repeated stabbing with these blades. Its legs are red with two-toed feet. In the wild, Pawniard lives in packs governed by Bisharp.

Trivia

The types it has are coincidentally the two types introduced in Generation II.

Pawniard and Bisharp are the only Pokémon that can have Defiant as a non-Hidden Ability.

Origin

It looks and acts similar to a traditional Japanese bandit—specifically a lackey or lower member—with features resembling ashigaru armor. It may also originate from kaijin, humanoid villains found in Japanese monster movies.

Name origin

Pawniard may be a combination of pawn (the most basic piece in chess or a low-level operative in an organization) and poignard or poniard (a lightweight dagger). It may also involve palliard (beggar or thief).

Komatana may be a combination of 駒 koma (a piece in the board game Shogi), 細切れ komagire (small pieces), and 刀 katana (sword) or 小刀 kogatana (knife).